JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The statewide debate over data centers has officially come to Duval County, and a statewide candidate was here in town Wednesday morning to bash Republican Gubernatorial nominee Byron Donalds’ stance on the issue.
In a news conference near the St. Johns River, Councilmember Jimmy Peluso (D-District 7), State House candidate Audrey Gibson and Agriculture Commissioner candidate Joey Atkins expressed their concerns as they stood behind a podium with the words “Data Center Donalds”.
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“Data centers will be the death of Florida’s environment,” said Gibson.
They took issue with the Donalds campaign receiving millions of dollars from data center developers and argued he’d open the door to unchecked data center construction.
“If we build an AI data center anywhere near the tributaries, it could poison this beautiful river, harm the ecosystem and make life harder for the people of this city,” said Peluso.
Early on in the race, Donalds did indicate he wanted Florida to become a leader in the data center industry, but has since softened his enthusiasm for data center development.
During a campaign stop in Northeast Florida Monday, he vowed to protect ratepayers from absorbing costs from data center energy usage, and promised to protect local control.
“They’re gonna decide if a data center comes to their community, not the State of Florida,” said Donalds. ”We are not going to preempt that ability from local governments. To be honest, it’s county commissioners that issue building permits, not Governors.”
In an upcoming segment of This Week in the 904 we spoke with Donalds’ Democratic opponent David Jolly about this issue.
He vowed to institute a one-year statewide moratorium on data center development.
“I think we need to just hit an immediate pause, make sure we get this right instead of getting it done quickly,” said Jolly.
And Atkins argued that’s a significant point of distinction between the two Gubernatorial candidates.
“He’s [Donalds] sort of morphing and adapting his message to what the polls say and he’s trying to balance these two sort of factions,” said Atkins. ”But you know what he’s not doing? He’s not calling for a ban or a moratorium on this, is he?”
It’s very possible data center platforms could play a big part in voters’ decisions this November.
A UNF poll conducted in July found 68 percent of Floridians oppose data center development in their local communities.
Republicans, Independents and Democrats all polled at over 50 percent opposition.
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